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Eight hours into ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' (Rockstar Games, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99), I've stolen 17 cars, run over 20 people and killed another 15 (some of whom had it coming). I've shaken down a couple of store owners and beaten up an old lady. I've driven while drunk and, perhaps worse, while talking on a cell phone.

I've also bowled and played pool. I've listened to some really cool tunes and watched a surprisingly lame standup routine by Ricky Gervais. I met a nice young lady and took her out to dinner. I bought some new clothes and got my car washed.

I haven't murdered any prostitutes or engaged in any graphic sex acts.
(Although, for the record, there's a very brief, non-interactive S&M scene right at the beginning of the game - which almost serves as a warning that this isn't ''Pokemon.'') And the violence has been relatively tame: Certainly, the number of bodies dropped per hour is less than in the last two Oscar-winning best pictures, ''No Country for Old Men'' and ''The Departed.''

Still, protests are inevitable, because any game that puts the player in the shoes of a criminal is bound to be seen as perverse. It's hard to argue with critics who find the ''Grand Theft Auto'' games immoral, because the developers at Rockstar Games seem to revel in their nihilism. I've attacked Rockstar in the past for such cynical, ultraviolent games as ''Manhunt 2,'' but I'd never argue that they don't have the right to publish them.

Just so we're clear, ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is not for the kids. It's rated ''M'' for mature, so people under 17 shouldn't be able to buy it. It has lots of blood, some nudity and a nearly constant stream of filthy language. And it's very entertaining.

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Niko Bellic receives letters and emails from his cousin Roman, speaking of wealth and luxury beyond his wildest dreams in Liberty City. After only a few years in America, Roman Bellic has a mansion, a sports car and many beautiful women in his life, and urges Niko to join him. After working the passage on a container ship, Niko is introduced to the truth -Roman's seedy, cockroach-ridden apartment, crappy car, stressful job, and a struggle to appease the aggressive gangsters looking to collect on his gambling debts. Niko doesn't like to see his cousin pushed around, and in the face of his defiance, the gangsters begin to negotiate - for Niko's services. So begins Grand Theft Auto IV - a magnificently byzantine journey into a corrupted, rusting American dream.

It's less than two weeks after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, the largest entertainment launch in history. The game took US$310 million in its first 24 hours, and US$500 million in its first week, putting other blockbuster media events like Halo 3 (US$170million) and the movie, Spider-man 3 (US$148million) in the shade. Over the last few weeks we've been looking at the GTA games so far; we've seen the start, the roots, the amazing transition from 2D to 3D, and moved from a sunny island city to an entire state. Sam Houser, co-creator of GTA, said that the difference between the last games and GTA4 would be as great as the leap from 2D to 3D - an ambitious claim. GTA4 took four years and a record breaking US$100 million to make.
Let's take a look at the results.

System: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Genre: Action, Driving, Shooter
Release date: April 29th, 2008
Players: 1 (16 online multiplayer)
Developer: Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Origin: UK
Rating: M for Mature with Blood, Strong Language, Violence

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